baby issues

...now browsing by category

 

Caesarean Csection Pros and Cons

Friday, March 13th, 2009
This guy turned out ok

This guy turned out ok

Pros and Cons
The “C-Section” or Caesarean birth is getting more and more common and is no longer just an emergency procedure. What attitude should you take towards it? Some women are strong as an ox and others are more sensitive and frail. Which are you? Our view on this depends on whether we see the world as too medicalized. Others strongly recommend the home birth, midwife, natural scenario. Considerations of pain and vaginal tone drive many women’s decisions. It also used to be that once you have given birth with this method you have to stick with it.
The procedure has a long history. Our infamous friend, Julius Caesar, supposedly entered the world this way, possibly providing the name.
Undoubtedly it has also gotten safer over time. What is involved? There is a horizontal incision across the lower portion of the uterus.
A modern caesareans’ scar is below the “bikini line” cosmetically. There is obviously a lot less trauma to the vagina in a C-section birth. Caesar babies tend to be prettier. You probably would be too if your head wasn’t squashed.

Recovering from labor and delivery is somewhat different if you undergo a cesarean section. There are the same pains as your uterus contracts back down to normal size. Usually you are up and walking within 24 hrs. This is uncomfortable but helps relieve the gas build-up. You might expect 3-5 days in hospital. The pain usually fades during this time and you get pain medication.

You shouldn’t lift anything heavier than your baby until you recover.

My sister-in-law claimed she could easily “spit out” an average weight baby. While my sister had two children both caesarean - she wanted to avoid the pain of labour. Don’t forget, with all the advice, in the end its up to you.

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Circumcision for baby boys

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

tell Dad to jam it

tell dad to jam it

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
No, stop, be serious - I know you are really. Whats a girl to do?

Has his dad had the chop? Most men in the world haven’t. Hmmm. Circumcision  is still the most common, surgical procedure in the world.

Yet if I make a wild, wild guess about how it became popular in the west:
LITTLE BOYS WERE PLAYING WITH THEIR FORESKINS. Simple.
Public health and all that. Yeah. Hee hee.
There are religio’s that still insist. Some even want to chop girls.
SAVE ME.
Doctors used to advise people to smoke to improve their health.
Apparently, we are talking about 70 metres of nerves, and more than 20,000 nerve endings. That must hurt and be missed.
There are good points about circumcision
In the past there was an ongoing problem. Boys didn’t take care of their genital hygiene properly. Studies seemed to show this was far less of a problem when the boys were circumcised. Uncircumcised boys have rather poor access to the area under the foreskin. Trapped bacteria could give off an offensive smell and most people consider smegma to be unclean.
Oddly women get some health benefits when their partner is circumcised.

  • cervical cancer
  • breast cancer
  • HIV
  • chlamydia
  • herpes

All of these conditions seem to somewhat reduced by circumcision of the male partner.
From the male health perspective, there are reductions in

  • penile cancer
  • syphilis
  • balanoposthitis
  • phimosis

All of the above have been studied and confirmed.
However, most of this seems to turn on hygiene considerations.
I was going to write a long piece and list many of the arguments on each side but really. Skip it I say… and tell dad to jam it.

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend